1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to a mechanism for driving the two reel bases of a tape recorder and, more particularly, to such mechanism in which a driver selectively engages one of the reel bases by swinging or pivotting a change lever in a predetermined direction.
2. Description of the Background
Drive systems for the reel bases of a tape recorder are known in which a driver element, such as a gear, is rotatably secured to a change lever, so that when the change lever is moved in a predetermined direction, for example, to obtain a fast forward mode or a rewind mode, the driver element selectively engages and rotates one of the two reel bases. It is also known that in a tape recorder or the like a brake member is provided to lock the pair of reel bases from rotation, in order to prevent the tape from becoming slack when selecting the stop mode or during some other mode changing operation due to continued rotation of the reel bases. Nevertheless, if the mechanism for selectively engaging the driver to rotate one of the reel bases and the brake member for locking the pair of reels are provided in the tape recorder without being mutually connected so as to be coordinated with each other, it will frequently be the case that both operations do not occur in synchronism, so that noises are apt to be produced when the driver is engaged with, or disengaged from, a reel base. That is, if the driver engages the reel base before the reel base has been fully disengaged from the brake member so as to render it freely rotatable, the rotating driver will be forced to engage a locked reel base, so that relatively loud and alarming noises are produced. On the other hand, if the reel bases are locked by the brake member before the driver has become fully disengaged from a reel base, the brake member will be forced to attempt to lock a rotating reel base, so that those unacceptable noises will also be produced.
It is also known that in a tape recorder mode-change mechanism a change lever for changing modes can be driven by a cam to obtain a fast forward mode or a rewind mode. In such cases, the change lever is urged toward the cam by a specially provided spring so as to ensure that the change lever will be positively driven by the cam. This special spring increases the number of parts in the tape recorder, increases the steps required for the assembly, and makes the overall construction more complicated.